The Youth division

Parental allowance and parental leave are an important support for families after the birth of a child.

Parental allowance:

Parental allowance provides families with the financial support they need to get off to a good start in life together after the birth of a child.

Both working and non-working parents can claim parental allowance during this initial period. Parental allowance gives working parents in particular the opportunity to interrupt or reduce their employment.

Parental allowance is available in three variants, which can also be combined:

• Basic parental allowance
• Parental allowance plus
• Partnership bonus months

You can find more detailed information on parental allowance on the website of the Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and Parental Allowance and Parental Allowance Plus.

Parental allowance applications can be downloaded online from the website of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Social Affairs, Health and Equality.

Families with children have the opportunity to take advantage of a wide range of early childhood education and care services.

There are many options in the crèche, the (multi-age) kindergarten, a family nest or extended family nest (child day care) in Wolfsburg - all four childcare services, which meet legal requirements, provide a high level of quality education. They work on the basis of their own concepts, in which pedagogical focal points are worked out.

Wolfsburg's outstanding educational standard is made up of many building blocks - three specialists per crèche group and cross-age kindergarten group, flexible solutions in family nests, the continuous training and further education of specialists and an intensive program for the further training, retention and promotion of childcare staff.

Wolfsburg is gearing up - for the future of our children!

• You can find information on the subject of child daycare here
• You can find information about child day care here

If you have not received a childcare place, please contact our First Support team by phone or e-mail at wolles-welt@stadt.wolfsburg.de.

Open		Contact Us	Contact Us
Monday:	08:30 - 16:30	Child day care Pestalozziallee 1a 38440 Wolfsburg 05361 28-2824 wolles-welt@ stadt.wolfsburg.de	Child day care Pestalozziallee 1a 38440 Wolfsburg 05361 28-5055 kindertagespflege@ statd.wolfsburg.de
Tuesday:	08:30 - 16:30
Wednesday	08:30 - 12:00
Thursday	08:30 - 17:30
Friday	08:30 - 12:00

The cost contribution (parental contribution for childcare, breakfast/lunch and special services) for attending a daycare center or child daycare depends on the age of the child.

For children under 3 years of age:

A standard monthly contribution is charged for the child's care, which is based on the type of care (crèche, kindergarten, day care) and the form of care (half-day, three-quarter day, full day or hours per day) in accordance with the applicable contribution table.

For children over 3 years of age:

No parental contribution is charged for childcare of up to 8 hours per day including special services (early and late care). A contribution must be paid for times beyond this.

Depending on their financial situation, families can receive both a waiver and an income-related reduction in the standard contribution for childcare and special services. In both cases, an application for a reduction or waiver must be submitted to the Youth Division.

In both cases, an application for a reduction or waiver must be submitted to the Youth Division.

Services for parents

Parents can come to us for advice and support if they have questions about their child's upbringing or development. We can visit the child in its social environment (at home or in childcare) to work with parents and educational staff to find explanations for the child's behavior and support it accordingly.

Offer for professionals

Educational professionals are faced with the challenge of organizing everyday group life while keeping an eye on the development of each individual child. Our aim in the consultation is to support them in their pedagogical expertise, to make them aware of their strengths and resources and to accompany the process of implementation in practice.

The twelve municipal daycare centers in Wolfsburg are characterized by clear pedagogical focuses. Each facility has a different focus, which is reflected in the children's daily routine - these focuses are also reflected in the logos of the individual daycare centers. From healthy eating, exercise, participation, music and nature workshops to city life, basic needs and UN children's rights, our daycare centers offer a great variety. Two facilities are also family centers and are particularly open to the district in their work and also offer advice and support for parents.

All municipal daycare centers work according to the "Early Excellence" approach - this means that the abilities of each child are individually promoted. The principle of this concept is: "Every child is unique." We treat your child with appreciation and respect them for who they are. Our focus is not on your child's weaknesses, but on their strengths and talents - because every child has talents that can be developed and encouraged.

Our counseling services are aimed at children, young people, parents and caregivers from Wolfsburg and the district of Gifhorn. All services are free of charge. All employees are bound to confidentiality. Further information can be found on the website of the educational counseling center.

• Registration form

The Intercultural Fathers' Office offers Wolfsburg fathers of all cultural backgrounds the opportunity to take on more responsibility in the upbringing and education of their children and to strengthen their rights and duties. Our services and activities are therefore geared towards the concerns and interests of fathers. By adopting an open and appreciative approach, we aim to strengthen fathers' understanding of their role and support them in developing their own ideas about the role of a father, family life and partnership. Appointments outside the open consultation hours can be arranged individually.

• Checklist for young fathers
• Checklist for expectant fathers

Early help includes all information, advice, support and assistance services for families from the beginning of pregnancy to the age of 3 (0 - 3 years). These serve to improve children's development opportunities. These services are bundled in the Early Help Network.

• Overall concept
• Newsletter September 2023

Wolles Info Café auf Reisen offers pregnant women and new parents the opportunity to exchange ideas with other (expectant) parents at various locations in the city, to network and to obtain important information about the new life situation with the baby. Among other things, you will find out which things you need to apply for, organize or consider in the new world of life. Further information can be found on the Wolles Info Café website.

The baby visiting service is a free outreach advice service for families with newborns and offers lots of interesting information about the development of your child and about local services on various topics such as advice, support, care and relief options. Further information can be found on the Early Help website.

Family support is an outreach, free counseling service during pregnancy and the first year of the baby's life (and beyond if required). It includes guidance, support and advice for parents, mothers and fathers on all questions, uncertainties and problems relating to the baby and the associated new life situation. Further information can be found on the Early Help website.

The Child Protection Coordination Office is the point of contact for specialist child protection issues in Wolfsburg and is aimed at all people who are in contact with families, children and young people on a professional or voluntary basis. It has the following tasks:

• Planning and implementation of further education and training courses
• Networking those involved in child protection and promoting the exchange of information
• Further development of quality standards in child protection in educational institutions
• Conceptual participation in cross-professional cooperation agreements
• General information about child protection work and existing help and support services

Further information can be found on the Child Protection website.

Information on reporting a risk to a child's welfare can be found under Social Services.

The reception management team is the first point of contact for children, young people, adolescents, families and internal and external cooperation partners. After the initial contact with the reception management, a referral can be made to the responsible colleagues from the general social services or the crisis intervention team.

• Initial advice on a possible need for help
• Initial advice on separation and divorce
• Initial advice on questions regarding contact and custody rights
• Initial advice on questions regarding help with parenting
• Acceptance and review of child welfare risks
• Dealing with violations of compulsory school attendance (missing school registrations or days of absence)
• The crisis intervention team handles cases relating to child protection (Section 8a SGB VIII) and domestic violence

The General Social Service (ASD) is the central point of contact for young people, mothers, fathers and other family members seeking advice and support. Professionals and organizations that deal with children, young people and adolescents can also turn to the ASD with questions and concerns. The ASD covers a wide range of services. The legal basis for the ASD's activities is the German Social Code, in particular Book Eight (VIII), Child and Youth Welfare.

Its central tasks include

• Advice on parenting issues, social security and crisis situations in families
• Advice on separation and divorce, contact, accompanied contact and custody
• Participation in family court proceedings
• Initiating and supporting inpatient and outpatient parenting support
• Shared living arrangements for mothers/fathers and children
• Child protection in accordance with SGB VIII (guardianship)
• Taking into care in accordance with Section 42 SGB VIII and clarification of prospects
• Contact person for unaccompanied foreign minors
• Advice and support from volunteer guardians

For information on voluntary guardianships, you can contact the responsible employee by email at ehrenamtliche.vormundschaften@stadt.wolfsburg.de

• Reporting child endangerment

If a child's welfare is at risk, you can contact the on-call service of the Social Services Department outside service hours, 365 days a year, via the Wolfsburg Police Department Heßlingerstrasse 27 38440 Wolfsburg Telephone 05361 4646 0

If parents are unable to ensure the care and upbringing of their children for health or social reasons, foster families are a great opportunity for the child concerned.

We are therefore looking for committed families and couples who are willing to take children into their family for a short or longer term.

At this point we would like to give you an initial overview of the different types of foster families. For further information, please contact us by telephone or e-mail.

What forms of foster care are there?

• Permanent care: Children need a long-term home in a foster family.
• On-call care: Children up to around 12 years of age who cannot stay with their families due to an acute crisis situation are cared for in an on-call foster family for a short period of time until the family situation has been clarified.
• Short-term care: Children are placed in a short-term foster family for a period of up to one year until the family situation has stabilized (for example, if the parents are undergoing inpatient therapy) or until longer-term prospects have been clarified.
• Host families: Host families offer unaccompanied foreign minors a place to live. Among other things, they support the young people in developing a perspective, learning the language and building a social environment.

Adoption

We provide information and advice on domestic, foreign and stepchild adoptions. Once a (domestic) adoptive child has been placed, we provide you with ongoing advice throughout the adoption process.

The aim of adoption placement is to find a suitable family for a child. The focus of the adoption service's work is on the welfare of the child and therefore respect for their individual needs. The task is to place the children with the most suitable adoptive applicants.

Adoption is intended to give the child a sense of security and affection in the new family while respecting their own biography.

Adoption applicants have no legal claim to the placement of a child.

If you have been adopted and are looking for your family of origin, we will support you in your "search for clues".

We can also help you if you gave your child up for adoption a long time ago and would like to make contact.

You can also contact us if you are expecting a child, are in a difficult life situation and are considering giving your child up for adoption.

Please note: Due to the consistently high number of applicants from Wolfsburg citizens, we do not accept adoption applicants from outside Wolfsburg.

• Brochure Children looking for foster parents

Counseling young people during an ongoing investigation or criminal proceedings is a focal point of the work of youth welfare in criminal proceedings. The focus is on the respective individual life situation in the context of the criminal offense. Individual coping and solution options are discussed together with the young people. After the proceedings, the instructions and conditions imposed by the public prosecutor's office or the court are monitored. Young people and their relatives can receive counseling before and after the proceedings. In criminal proceedings against young people aged 14 and over or adolescents aged 18 and over who have come into conflict with the law, the youth courts call in the youth court assistance service to support the young person or adolescent and their legal guardians or family members.

Economic Youth Welfare (WiJU) is a specialist team of the "Social Services" department of the Youth Division of the City of Wolfsburg.

The Economic Youth Welfare Department is responsible for the administrative and financial handling of child-rearing assistance in accordance with the 8th Social Code (SGB VIII). As part of the collection of youth welfare costs, advice is given to those liable to pay the costs.

In the context of official guardianship or official guardianship, the Youth Division becomes the legal representative of the child instead of the parents. In accordance with Section 55 SGB VIII, the task is assigned to an employee who, in accordance with Section 1788 BGB, is to maintain regular personal contact with the child and personally promote and ensure their care and upbringing in accordance with Section 1795 BGB. The official guardianship/custody ends at the latest when the child reaches the age of majority.

In the case of children of underage mothers, when the mother reaches the age of majority. It can also be terminated prematurely by order of the family court. The tasks include

• Representation in legal matters
• Choice of place of residence and school for the child
• Submitting applications to authorities
• Giving consent for surgery
• Asset management of the child
  

• Your guardian represents you Brochure

A child is entitled to advance maintenance payments if the debtor pays no or too little maintenance and the child has not yet reached the age of 18, whereby additional requirements must be met from the age of 12 (see information sheet on advance maintenance payments). The benefit under the Maintenance Advance Act must be applied for in writing. The application must be submitted to the responsible youth welfare office. The youth welfare office in whose district the child lives is responsible.

Guardianship is a free service offered by the Youth Division. The youth welfare office at the applicant parent's place of residence is responsible. The scope of the guardianship includes

• Establishing paternity
• Assertion of child maintenance claims

The following certifications can be made free of charge and by prior appointment in the Youth Division:

• Acknowledgment of paternity
• Consent to acknowledgement of paternity
• Recognition of maternity
• Joint declaration of custody (if the parents are not married to each other)
• Recognition of maintenance obligations for underage children and adults up to the age of 21
• Recognition of obligation to pay childcare maintenance in accordance with section 1615 l BGB
• Further possible certifications are regulated in Section 59 SGB VIII

The department advises and supports mothers, fathers and young adults up to the age of 21 with regard to maintenance or maintenance replacement claims. The following services are provided as part of the advice and support:

• Clarification of the legal situation
• Support with the assertion of maintenance claims
• Calculation of the maintenance claim, if information on income is provided voluntarily
• Advice on asserting maintenance claims, for example advance maintenance payments

• Contact persons

Task

Quality management is understood to mean the continuous and systematic review of measures with the aim of achieving ongoing quality promotion and improvement. The work processes and results of the Youth Division are regularly reviewed, documented and changed if necessary. Processes are therefore analyzed in quality management in order to create transparency and continuously improve services for citizens. This is the only way the division can continue to work efficiently and safely. Key parameters of educational assistance are monitored by impact-oriented specialist controlling and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The aim is to evaluate and improve the performance processes of the Youth division as well as internal and external structures. Specialist controlling provides information and control impulses on the quality of the service, the implementation of the agreed standards, the service landscape and budget development.

Data management

Data management in the Youth division refers to the systematic collection, storage, maintenance, retrieval and use of data generated as part of the division's tasks and services. The data is systematically collected and processed in order to ensure that it can be used in practice. The data is retrieved and analyzed in order to check the quality of services. This not only helps to identify trends and create reports, but also to manage measures and achieve goals. Overall, data management in the Youth division is used to work efficiently and effectively, support quality assurance and make operational and strategic decisions. It forms the basis for the complex and diverse tasks that need to be fulfilled in youth welfare.

Specialist planning

The Youth division has specialized specialist planners. The "Planning, Quality and Control" staff unit is responsible for the specialist planning of the "Counseling", "Social Services" and "Maintenance and Guardianship" departments. The planning of specialist content is aimed at implementing the social living situation and participation, social equalization as well as the objectives and legal entitlements of the 8th Social Code. To this end, they collect data from their respective areas and use it to manage measures and achieve goals. A key aspect of the work is that the specialist planning departments regularly work together on the overarching goals of the Youth division and optimize integrated planning processes.

Task and goal

"Communities that Care" is based on many years of research at the University of Seattle (USA). During several long-term studies, the risk and protective factors that influence the development of problematic behavior in children and adolescents were identified. This prevention strategy has been used in numerous locations in the USA since 1985. The CTC method has also proven its worth outside the USA, for example in the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Canada. It has been used in various cities and districts across Germany since 2009. In cooperation with the Lower Saxony State Prevention Council, the city is also planning to implement the long-term prevention strategy "Communities That Care" in Wolfsburg. The aim is to create a safe and supportive environment for children and young people in which they feel valued and respected. With the help of the latest scientific findings on various prevention measures and their guaranteed effectiveness, the needs of children, young people and families can be addressed in a targeted manner. In addition, "Communities That Care" strengthens cooperation between authorities, organizations and residents of the city of Wolfsburg to ensure the healthy personal and social development of young people.

Survey

In order to plan measures and identify the problems of the target group, a survey is conducted among pupils in years 7, 9 and 11 at secondary schools in Wolfsburg. This survey requires the consent of parents or adult pupils and deals with aspects of well-being in the areas of school, neighborhood, family and friends. The survey is supervised by qualified personnel and evaluated by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence. It is voluntary, anonymous and takes place directly in the school in consultation with the school management and school authorities. The survey is expected to be repeated every five years in order to guide future action planning and adapt it if necessary.

Results and evaluation

The results obtained are anonymized and summarized in a report. They are used in the areas of youth welfare and other planning areas of the city of Wolfsburg as well as in the interested schools. The precise evaluation contributes to the analysis of risk and protective factors and should help to improve prevention services for children, young people and families.

Task

The Dialogue Centre supports educational institutions in dealing with issues relating to radicalization, phenomena of extremism and strengthening democracy.

The Dialogue Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization and the Promotion of Democracy of the City of Wolfsburg is the central municipal advice centre in Wolfsburg for institutions, clubs and associations as well as internal and external departments for the prevention of radicalization and the promotion of democracy. It also has the task of protecting children and young people from dangers and strengthening them in the face of all kinds of impairments. It is the first point of contact for systematic case management, advises on suspected radicalization and provides professional support to institutions in individual cases. It also supports the reintegration of returnees and their children from "IS" areas. It also organizes specialist events and, in cooperation with network partners, advises on pedagogical approaches to radicalized adolescents, young adults and families.

Services

Advice (English, German (interpreters available for Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi))

• Advice and case management in the event of indications of extremist behaviour or radicalization tendencies
• Prevention work in the area of radicalization and extremism
• Expansion of specialist network

Intervention and deradicalization

• Clarification of possible offers of help
• Networking with prevention partners in the context of dissociation, deradicalization and demobilization
• Reintegration work

Further education and training

• Expert dialog: Training series for professionals from Wolfsburg on the phenomenon of extremism (focus on religiously motivated extremism and right-wing extremism)
• Raising awareness of extremist phenomena
• Dealing with extremist pupils and parents and early detection of radicalization processes